Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events

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Chinese outbound tourism and soft power

Honggang Xu, Ke Wang & Young Mi Song

To cite this article: Honggang Xu, Ke Wang & Young Mi Song (2018): Chinese outbound
tourism and soft power, Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events, DOI:
10.1080/19407963.2018.1505105

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/19407963.2018.1505105

Published online: 10 Aug 2018.

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JOURNAL OF POLICY RESEARCH IN TOURISM, LEISURE AND EVENTS
https://doi.org/10.1080/19407963.2018.1505105

Chinese outbound tourism and soft power

Honggang Xu , Ke Wang and Young Mi Song
School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, PR China

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

A boom in Chinese outbound tourism representing a much Received 20 December 2016
welcome boost to the economy of other countries has drawn Accepted 5 January 2018
global attention. Drawing upon the concept of soft power, this
KEYWORDS
study explores how China use outbound tourism as an exercise of Soft power; Chinese
soft power, what achievements are related to this, and looks at outbound tourism; tourism
the challenge and dilemmas that are related to this issue. It is diplomacy; China;
found that tourism based soft power is being built both through international relationship
government policies, which include approved destination status,
tourism culture activities, tourism foreign aid and tourism
cooperation as well as interactions amongst the tourists and hosts
in addition to businesses. This study argues that the outcomes
depend mainly on its economic power, agenda-setting, and
somewhere between hard and soft power, rather than upon the
country’s attraction. It also establishes that soft power building
through Chinese outbound tourism may be more effective in the
Southeast Asian, Asia-Pacific, African and South American
countries than in Western countries due to closer economic
relationships, cultural similarities and shared beliefs.

Introduction
A boom in Chinese outbound tourism representing a much welcome boost to the
economy of other countries has drawn global attention. In 2016, the number of
Chinese outbound tourists was recorded at 122 million, and China’s outbound tourism
expenditure rose to USD 109.8 billion (CTA, 2017), enabling it to be ranked first in
such expenditure in the world. The Chinese citizens have a very short history of traveling
to foreign countries. In ancient China, very few excellent diplomatists, representatives of
the country, had the chance to go abroad, with purposes of cross cultural communication
and national image dissemination. In the first three decades of the People’s Republic of
China, outbound tourism and contacts to foreigners including overseas Chinese were
met with suspicion and limited to a few diplomats, athletes and official delegations
(Arlt, 2013). But now numerous Chinese go aboard as tourists with big consumption
potential. This is the first time ordinary Chinese people have opportunities to go to the
world and directly communicate with foreigners through outbound tourism (Fan, 2010;
Fugmann & Aceves, 2013). Thus, it has been claimed that tourists are becoming unofficial
ambassadors engaged in building soft power (Tse, 2013).

CONTACT Honggang Xu xuhongg@mail.sysu.edu.cn School of Tourism Management, Sun Yat-Sen University, 329
Building, 135 West Xingang Road, Haizhu District, Guangzhou 510275, PR China
© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 H. XU ET AL.

Outbound tourism creates impact in the form of economy and agenda setting (Kim,
Timothy, & Han, 2007; Narayan, 2004). The political importance of tourism has been
recognized by some studies, wherein tourism is claimed as a political and aspirational
activity through which the country solidifies particular visions of its supposed culture
and values (Hollinshead & Hou, 2012) as well as a major force in influencing political pol-
icies, international relations and world peace (Edgell, 1990; Richter, 1989; Zhang, Heung,
& Yan, 2009).
When Chinese outbound tourism emerged as a phenomenon, it was also identified as a
tool in Chinese diplomatic policy (Tse, 2013). In the national tourism work conference
and report in 2015, Mr. Jinzao Li (2015), the director of China National Tourism Admin-
istration (CNTA) stated that ‘tourism needs to take an active role and action in new situ-
ations, to be integrated with China’s international policy’. This meant that tourism
administrative departments made it clear that tourism would play a role in international
diplomacy. A number of researchers have also suggested using outbound tourism as an
important tool to increase China’s international influence and soft power (Dai, 2011;
Dai, Jiang, Yang, & Ma, 2017).
The political roles of Chinese outbound tourism have been examined by some research-
ers focusing on tourism diplomacy, who have highlighted how tourism is treated as a form
of diplomacy and also noted the effects of tourism diplomacy (Fan, 2010; Tse, 2013). Its
effects are all-compassing and include projecting an image of a prosperous and strong
China, showcasing the stability of Renminbi (RMB), refuting the ‘China threat theory’,
boosting national confidence and enhancing the status of overseas Chinese (Fan, 2010).
It has been suggested that China should use the country’s outbound tourism to increase
the probability of obtaining its desired outcomes on the international front (Fan, 2010;
Tse, 2013). Yet, how these suggestions can be effectively implemented and achieved has
not been examined. Hence, this study explores how China use outbound tourism as an
exercise of soft power, what achievements are related to this, and looks at the challenge
and dilemmas that are related to this issue. The article first describes the primary
defining aspects of power and soft power. Secondly, the article summarizes the under-
standing of soft power in China and the controversy of Chinese soft power in international
relationships. Thirdly, the paper discusses how Chinese outbound tourism builds soft
power through diplomatic means as well as social interaction. Fourthly, the article ident-
ifies/discusses the potential and limitations of the Chinese model of soft power building
through outbound tourism.
Methodologically, this paper presents a review of literature including official papers,
government policy pronouncements, scholarly literatures from Chinese and Western
researchers, by-laws and statistics of Chinese outbound tourism, which is also combined
with a Chinese-language and English-language media analysis. Official papers, govern-
ment policy pronouncements and by-laws and statistics of Chinese outbound tourism
are accessed from Chinese-language official websites. The selected press articles are
taken from Mainland China’s main print media.

Power and soft power

Power is centered on the idea of nations using material resources to influence other
nations (Barnett & Duvall, 2005, p. 40). Gilpin (1983, p. 13) defines power as ‘the military,
 JOURNAL OF POLICY RESEARCH IN TOURISM, LEISURE AND EVENTS 3

economic, and technological capabilities of states’. In international relations studies,

power has often been conceptualized to integrate several dimensions, such as economic
and military capabilities, national will, internal strength and relative standing vis-a-vis
other states (Mistry, 2004). Although these researchers have differing opinions regarding
the components of state power, their views do reflect consensus in conceptualizing these
components into ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ power (Huang & Ding, 2006; Yan, 2006).
The concept of soft power was first introduced in Joseph Nye’s (1991) book Bound to
Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power and further developed by Nye in a series
of articles and books (Nye, 2002, 2003, 2004a, 2004b, 2008). According to Nye (2004b,
p. 11), soft power is ‘the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coer-
cion or payments. It arises from the attractiveness of a country’s culture, political ideals,
and policies’. Hard power, in contrast, is coercion exercised typically through levying of
economic and military and trade sanctions (Nye, 2008). Soft power uses cultures in
places where these are attractive to others, values when prevalent at home and abroad
and foreign policies when they are seen as legitimate, as opposed to using force in hard
power (Nye, 2004b). The passive use of military and economic threats, however, can
also be used to attract, just as their active use can be used to coerce, implying that
different resources can contribute to soft power (Nye, 2009). If a state builds a positive
image, whether based on its actions or policies or on its inherent characteristics, other
states will be drawn to it, and this is called the process of ‘attraction’ (Nye, 2004b). As a
state attracts others, it will have greater influence over those states, thereby increasing
its soft power. Other states will also be more willing to follow its lead, defer to its
wishes and imitate its policies, values or institutions (Kearn, 2011).
Rothman (2011) has re-conceptualized the concept of soft power by developing a
spectrum of power from the hardest form to the softest form. As Figure 1 illustrates,
the model conceptualizes the exercise of power as a dynamic concept wherein soft
power manifests two dimensions, namely agenda-setting (co-opting support for an
action of some type) and attraction which builds a positive image, and the comparison
amongst several types of behaviors on a relative basis for softness or hardness. These
ideal types also allow for Nye’s power as attractiveness power to constitute one of the
softest forms of power.
There are different ways to build soft power, including the utilization of the free market
forces, for instance building soft power through exposure to US culture around the world
and the utilization of the Chinese government’s authoritarian approach. American values

Figure 1. The spectrum of soft power. Source: (Rothman, 2011).

4 H. XU ET AL.

and the country’s popular culture are the main sources of American soft power (Nye,
2000). The United States has spread its culture and values worldwide, and American
popular culture, such as movies, TV shows, music, sports, cuisine, clothing and designer
goods have penetrated deeply into Asian societies. According to survey data from China,
Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and Vietnam, most people agreed that American popular
culture had a great influence on them (Meng, 2012). As for China, while the government
often takes initiatives in the soft power building, the effectiveness of these is widely-
debated.

China’s wielding of soft power in international relationships

The understanding of soft power in China
Since the concept of ‘soft power’ was introduced to China in 1992, it has generated many
discussions and has become a core concept in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) policy
framework. Diplomatic means, as well as cultural, economic and political mechanisms
have been used to exercise (co-opt) soft power over the Chinese populace for either
agenda setting or attraction (Cho & Jeong, 2008; Kurlantzick, 2007). In November
2003, Bijian Zheng, the Chairman of the China Reform Forum in President Jintao Hu
era, promoted the term ‘the peaceful rise’ (heping jueqi), which has re-emerged as the
‘peaceful development’ in 2004, an exercise of soft power to co-opt support for govern-
ment plans in national development and international engagement. In 2004, Division
for Public Diplomacy was established to fulfill two roles, one of which is to facilitate
China’s rise to soft power. After several years of debates by the elites, ‘soft power’ was
introduced into China’s official language in President Jintao Hu’s speech to the 17th
National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on 1 October 2007 (Hu &
the 16th CCP Central Committee, 2007).
The adoption of the term ‘soft power’ in Hu’s speech represented a strategic shift in the
government’s policies on China’s path towards strengthening international relationships.
The exercise of soft power came to be regarded as a way to achieve a more favorable inter-
national diplomatic environment and trading conditions, as well as its hope for expanding
its political influence. For this purpose, Chinese public diplomacy has had to go beyond
the traditional model of diplomacy, which focuses on government-to-government engage-
ment. Soft power is now an important strategy in the development of contemporary
China, which is a country in transition moving from socialism to quasi-capitalism with
socialist characteristics (Kwek, Wang, & Weaver, 2014). To facilitate this transformation,
hard power and soft power are combined and integrated in Chinese diplomacy. Indigen-
ous economic and cultural influences are intentionally used to build a positive national
image and promote Chinese values as an attractive alternative to Western ideology
(Zhao & Huang, 2010).
As an important source of soft power, promoting a compelling culture is one of the key
means to construct an external national image (Nye, 2008). Historically, the CCP has
emphasized the role culture plays in enhancing the nation’s overall ability to promote
external harmony for national development (Hu & the 16th CCP Central Committee,
2007; Jiang, 2002). The use of soft power spreads China’s culture and builds influence
globally through many approaches, especially cultural events and performance, worldwide
events, films presenting the national image, Chinese learning institutes and tourism. China
 JOURNAL OF POLICY RESEARCH IN TOURISM, LEISURE AND EVENTS 5

has not only sponsored Chinese cultural festivals in many foreign countries (such as
France and the United States), but also hosted mega events like the Olympic Games
and World Expo. To reposition China’s national image abroad to one of prosperity,
harmony, and win-win , national image films, as a manifestation of soft power, were pro-
duced and released in New York’s Times Square in 2011 (Xinhuanet, 2011a).
In order to educate foreigners about China, the Chinese government invested large
amounts of money in building international media, establishing Chinese news and
radio channels, as well as promoting Chinese language learning (Men, 2007). As a
result, Confucius Institutes, since the early 2000s, have been systematically established
to promote Chinese language learning, globalize Chinese culture and enhance socio-cul-
tural understanding(Kurlantzick, 2007). Other uses of soft power to expand Chinese inter-
ests and influence abroad include the international strategy of ‘One Belt, One Road (Yi Dai
Yi Lu),’ which aims at establishing an open and mutually beneficial platform of coopera-
tive economic, political and cultural exchange (Liu & Dunford, 2016; Xinhuanet, 2014).
More and more political elites and scholars believe that ‘One Belt and One Road Initiat-
ive’ will lead the way of new globalization, and one of the important exploration directions
is inclusive globalization that highlights peace, cooperation, openness, inclusiveness,
mutual learning and mutual benefits (Liu, Dunford, & Gao, 2017).

The controversy of Chinese soft power

To many people around the world, China’s performance is strikingly admirable in sustain-
ing a high rate of economic growth over the last three decades, which has raised standards
of living and reduced poverty (Nye & Jisi, 2009). The development model, conceptualized
by Ramo (2004) as the ‘Beijing Consensus’, involving the economic field and political pol-
icies, has received wide attention from all over the world and garnered much support from
many countries in Latin America and Asia, which were reported in the Chinese media
(People.cn, 2004). This accumulated capital has increased China’s capacity to use soft
power (Nye & Jisi, 2009). With the wielding of the idea of soft power based on attraction
in international relationships, China has made significant progress over the past decade.
Specifically, its growing soft power capability and an attractive national image, as well
as a more favorable global attitude and increased respect for China have been observed
on a global scale (Ding, 2010). However, Meng’s (2012) study that focused on foreigners’
perceptions toward China compared to people’s perceptions toward the U.S found that
public opinions toward China were mainly determined by the economic and political
situation.
Hence, it has not been easy to define a causal link between China’s cultural diplomacy
and its image abroad. In Meng’s (2012) view, this is largely due to the fact that Chinese
model of soft power building is very much characterized by governmental interventions.
The efforts of the Chinese government to disseminate its culture to the Western countries
seem to be less than effective. What is more, the enormous gap between Western and
Chinese ideas and values, a factor Chinese policy-makers often fail to grasp, is the
biggest obstacle for Chinese soft power projection (d’Hooghe, 2011).
Inside China, domestic tourism has been used as a soft power to enhance the national
identity and education of communist ideology. Nyíri (2007) has pointed out that China’s
tourism development has been heavily orchestrated by the state, where special/registered
6 H. XU ET AL.

scenic spots (jing dian) and approved theme parks are strategically harnessed and pro-
moted as both instruments of patriotic education and national modernization. For
instance, the national heritage, as an attractive tourism resource, is frequently utilized
in tourism industries by the Chinese government to display national culture and value
(Xu, 2002, 2005, 2007). The red tourism, a characteristic tourism product mainly targeted
to Chinese tourists and overseas Chinese, where they visit sites associated with CCP revo-
lutionary memory and history, attempts to gain people’s national identity and patriotic
sentiment (CCP Central Committee & State Council, 2004). As the result of these experi-
ences and with the rising importance of international tourism in international trade, the
Chinese government has also made attempts to increase China’s soft power through out-
bound tourism. We illustrate these in the following sections.

Chinese outbound tourism

The 83 million outbound border crossings in 2012 have elevated China to the status of the
world’s largest outbound tourism market, and the expansion continues. The border-cross-
ings reached 122 million trips in 2016, and the outbound tourism consumption was 109.8
billion U.S. dollars (CTA, 2017). Compared to the 3.74 million border crossings reported
in 1993, the 2013 numbers represent a twenty six-fold increase in 20 years (Figure 2).
The same is true for outbound tourism spending originating in China. According to
Arlt (2013), with a 40% growth to US $102 billion in 2012 in outbound tourism spending,
China overtook Germany and the USA for the first time.
Apart from tourist trips, Chinese overseas tourism related investment is also increasing.
‘One Belt and One Road Initiative’ sets goals about enhancing broader trade and transport
ties, within which tourism plays an important role. In this strategic background, the
Chinese government has deepened cooperation with neighboring countries by increasing
infrastructural investments in tourism traffic facilities such as highways, railways and

Figure 2. Chinese outbound tourist numbers from 1993 to 2016 (unit: 10 thousand). Source: (CTA,
1994–2017).
 JOURNAL OF POLICY RESEARCH IN TOURISM, LEISURE AND EVENTS 7

shipping. Further, the China Development Bank has set up one billion dollars in special
loans for the establishment of China-ASEAN infrastructures (Li, 2014). In addition,
various Chinese tourism enterprises, like hotel operators, travel agencies, large tourism
conglomerate and real estate enterprises, encouraged by the ‘going-out’ policy and stimu-
lated by outbound tourism market have been increasing their investments in major
Chinese outbound tourism destinations in recent years (Li, Yan, & Chen, 2014). Com-
pared to thirteen enterprises investing in tourism related industries abroad in 1993, the
2014 numbers show 491 enterprises investing in tourism related industries abroad, repre-
senting a staggering thirty seven-fold increase in 10 years (Li, Song, & Ma, 2015).

Chinese outbound tourism as a diplomacy

The Chinese government has recognized the potential of outbound tourism in inter-
national relationships, which can be observed in the following areas.

Approved Destination Status (ADS)

The use of ADS as a diplomatic tool is widely acknowledged by various scholars (Arlt,
2013; Fan, 2010; Medeiros & Fravel, 2003; Tse, 2013). The Approved Destination
Status (ADS) scheme, implemented in 1997, is a bilateral arrangement between the
Chinese government and a destination whereby Chinese tourists are permitted to
undertake leisure travel in groups to that destination. Only countries with ADS can
be listed as group travel destinations by the Chinese government and promote their
tourism market in China. By the end of 2013, there were about 148 countries and
regions around the world that had signed the bilateral tourism agreement with
China (Arlt, 2013).
Studies have shown how Chinese government uses ADS to influence the international
policies by co-opting nations into activities pertaining to their agenda, such as in the case
of Canada (Tse, 2013) and African countries (Medeiros & Fravel, 2003). Specifically, Tse
(2013) illustrated,
‘China’s delay in approving Canada ADS is a reprisal for its Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s
criticism of China’s human rights record, and his meeting in 2007 with the Dalai Lama, whom
Beijing sees as a traitor and separatist … … During Prime Minister Harper’s visit to China in
December 2009, Canada’s ADS was announced … … . It was with such difficult diplomatic
relationships that Canada became the last major western country to receive ADS after pro-
tracted negotiation’.

In addition, the control of tourists is also used as a tool to influence relationship between
mainland China and Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan (Fan, 2010; Tse, 2013). In short,
China’s control over the agenda-setting related to outbound tourism can provide power
to produce a favorable outcome. This practice of using agenda-setting involves knowledge
of the agenda system and some institutional decision-making processes, which appears to
be more of an art (Rothman, 2011).
In addition, many countries, realizing the economic importance of Chinese tourists as a
tourist-generating country, have incorporated the growth of Chinese outbound tourism in
their economic development plans. For instance, the Tourism 2020 Strategy in Australia
aims to double visitor numbers by 2020, and this target can be met by focusing on Chinese
outbound tourism.
8 H. XU ET AL.

Tourism culture activities

The use of a dedicated tourist year is recognized by scholars as a means to comprehen-
sively expand tourism cooperation and cultural exchange, promote bilateral relations
and improve friendliness between nations. Tourism culture activities of this type
include the establishment of ‘Year of Tourism’. In 2014, an agreement was reached
upon a Korean tourism year when President Jinping Xi visited Korea (People.cn, 2015).
A China-India tourism year was agreed when President Jinping Xi visited India in
2014, and the opening ceremony of Chinese tourism year in India was hosted in 14
January 2016 (Xinhuanet, 2016). Moreover, the opening ceremony of tourism cooperation
development year between China and 16 Central and Eastern Europe countries was held
in March 2015 (Xinhuanet, 2015). In addition, President Jinping Xi also announced 2016
as the Sino-US tourism year in his speech in Washington State, USA on 22 September
2015 (CNTA, 2015a).

Tourism as foreign aid

According to Nye (2004b), Soft power uses foreign policies when they are seen as legiti-
mate and having moral authority as a currency. Tourism, as an exercise of soft power,
also uses foreign aid activities that have some kind of moral authority attached to them
as an approach. Immediately after the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami,
Chinese former Premier Jiabao Wen attended the Special ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting and
pledged in his speech that the Chinese government would encourage travel to these
countries by Chinese tourists when conditions returned to normal (China.org.cn, 2005).
Direct flights from Beijing to the Thai resort island of Phuket were launched in early
2005 by Air China, and a number of tourism officials and heads of the country’s influential
travel agencies were sent to help tourism recovery in the affected countries (CTA, 2006).
Another case is Japan. Tourism in Japan was curtailed by an earthquake and tsunami on
11 March 2011. Chinese government departments, as well as tourism authorities, travel
agencies and airline companies have worked to support Japanese post-quake tourism
recovery (Xinhuanet, 2011b). According to Hiroshi Mizohata, Commissioner of Japan
Tourism Agency, ‘Japanese tourism is facing an unprecedented crisis, but the smile of
Chinese tourists can encourage the Japanese people’ (People’s Daily, 2011).

Moving toward the tourism cooperation

Recently, the Chinese international policy has shown some changes along with ‘One Belt,
One Road’ strategy, where tourism cooperation is presented and then practised by central
and local governments. In general, this policy advocates strengthening cooperation in
tourism, expanding tourism scale, arranging mutual tourism activities to produce inter-
national tourism routes and tourism products with features of the Silk Road, together
with other countries (China Comment, 2016).
Through tourism cooperation, culture and values can be communicated and delivered
among engaging countries. To facilitate cooperation, international tourism organizations
are founded and international ‘Tourism Forums’ are frequently held. World Tourism
Cities Federation (WTCF) was established in Beijing. It is a non-profit, non-governmental
international organization founded voluntarily by tourist cities of all countries and
regions, non-governmental associations and enterprises related with tourism (BJTA,
2011). In addition, World Tourism Association (WTA) was found in September 2017
 JOURNAL OF POLICY RESEARCH IN TOURISM, LEISURE AND EVENTS 9

in Chengdou, China. It is another global, comprehensive, non-governmental, non-profit

international tourism organization, which was initiated by China Tourism Association
and aims to strengthen international exchanges, share experience and deepen cooperation
in global tourism industry (Xinhuanet, 2017).
China-CEEC (Central and Eastern European Countries) cooperation, which was
officially initiated from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, involves cooperation in fields of
trade, culture, education and tourism (people.com, 2016). Further, about 1000 people
from 100 countries attended the first world conference on tourism development held in
Beijing in May, 2016, with the theme of ‘Tourism Fosters Peace and Development’.
China’s cultural and intelligent influence abroad is likely to be further enlarged by
offering more extensive commutation platforms and intelligent supports for tourism inno-
vation and sustainable development.

Chinese outbound tourism as a social interaction

While the Chinese government is making attempts to build soft power through various
policies, the effectiveness of this is achieved mainly through interpersonal and business
communications. Currently, the lack of cultural sensitivity and the sense of responsibility
amongst Chinese tourists and some tourism business practices in the social interactions
between the Chinese and the host communities hamper this potential.

The Chinese tourist behavior abroad

An important inhibitor, with global ethical implications that can affect China’s soft power
diplomacy, is the unethical behavior of Chinese outbound tourists (Guo & Zhang, 2008).
Their behavior as visitors is often found to be problematic in other countries. The unfa-
vorable behaviors of Chinese outbound tourists have been identified by an official from
Foreign Affair, Pin Huang as below (China News, 2013).

. Some Chinese tourists do not have good behavior, such as bathroom etiquette, spitting
manners, etc.
. They lack of understanding of the local customs and lack of respect.
. Intentional or unintentional breaking of local laws.
. Improper guidance from travel agencies.
. Overprotecting their rights and benefits.

Often this type of behavior can be attributed to the fact that they are inexperienced in
tourism and in visiting other cultures. Even though there are also many well-behaved indi-
vidual travelers from China, they do not change the image of the loud, disrespectful and
uncivilized Chinese outbound tourists. While Chinese tourists with unethical behaviors
are visible as CHINESE travelers, the English-speaking, travel-savvy Chinese are not so
visible due to their lack of conformity with the stereotypes; thus they are in most cases
not identified as Chinese, but rather as other Asians (Taiwanese, Singaporean, Japanese),
or American-born Chinese or European Born Chinese.
The Chinese government, realizing that these unethical behaviors constitute a bottle-
neck in increasing national soft power, has developed an intervention program on regu-
lating outbound tourists’ behaviors. First of all, the civilization office of central
10 H. XU ET AL.

government and CNTA (2006) jointly published the following documents: ‘Action plans
to improve the ethical behavior of Chinese tourists’ and ‘Tourism Etiquette Rules for
Chinese Citizens Travelling Abroad’ in 2006. Messages prompting ethical behavior are
also sent automatically to mobile phones when travelers are boarding flights to other
countries. Moreover, in the summer of 2014, China’s President Jinping Xi, during an
official visit to the Maldives, was reported to have said ‘we should also educate our citizens
to be ethical when travelling abroad’ (China Daily, 2014a). His comments were taken
seriously by various Chinese bureaus. As a result, CNTA (2015b) issued a new document
‘Further guidance on improving the cultivation in tourism’, and travel agencies were
instructed by provincial tourism bureaus to require tourists to sign a letter of commitment
to behave in an ethical way as an appendix to travel contracts.

Cultural conflicts of Chinese outbound businesses

Apart from host-guest social interactions, Chinese outbound tourism business-business
contact is also an important approach for an unofficial cultural exchange with other
countries. Although the Chinese outbound tourism business has contributed to economic
growth and reflected an image of a strong China, cultural conflicts also exist between
Chinese tourism business people and their western partners. Even worse, there are
some irregular practices followed by Chinese business professionals, which have tainted
the image of Mainland China, its people, and its culture amongst operators operated in
destination countries (Guo, Kim, & Timothy, 2007). Guo et al. (2007, p. 328) summarized
the unfavorable behaviors of Chinese outbound tourism business or agency, which were
criticized and brought it to the attention of people across the globe by the foreign media.
The Chinese government has undertaken various actions and published many docu-
ments to regulate Chinese outbound tour business, such as ‘Measures For the Manage-
ment Of Chinese Citizens To Travel Abroad’, ‘Measures On Regulating Outbound
Tourism Guides’, ‘Regulations On Tour Agencies’ and ‘The Quality Of Service Of Out-
bound Tourism’. In addition, the Tourist Law was enacted in 2013 to regulate the
Chinese tourism industry, wherein outbound tourism agencies and corporations are
incorporated. However, whether the intervention of the Chinese government has garnered
desired results over the last 10 years is difficult to ascertain due to a lack of research on this
topic. However, it cannot be denied that the unfavorable behavior of Chinese outbound
tourism business is in evidence in many foreign countries, such as Thailand (Wirun,
2016).

Discussion
The gains in its status in global economy that China achieves through outbound tourism
are obvious. Traditional ‘tourism’ countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, France, Spain
and even Russia, as well as a recent top tourism destination, South Korea, have been
working proactively to improve service to Chinese tourists. For instance, Russia has devel-
oped ‘red tourism’ which enables Chinese tourists visit sites in Russia associated with the
former Soviet Union and the communist revolution, such as the Red Square in Moscow,
Lenin’s mausoleum and the cruiser ‘Aurora’ (China Daily, 2014b). The Korean govern-
ment has also created several tourism products targeted at Chinese group tourists (e.g.
final year high school students) (Korea Culture & Tourism Institute, 2016). In addition,
 JOURNAL OF POLICY RESEARCH IN TOURISM, LEISURE AND EVENTS 11

tourism businesses are incorporating Chinese language into their service delivery. For
instance, to attract Chinese shoppers, Galeries Lafayette, a shopping mall in Paris,
employs Chinese shopping guides, offers services in Chinese and provides discounts
and promotions mainly targeted at Chinese tourists. Many other examples can be
found in Germany and Spain.
The tourism product and service targeting at Chinese tourists is promoted by many
countries with the intention of obtaining economic advantage. Thus it can be seen that
the economic effect of Chinese tourism outbound on destination countries, especially
those where the Chinese tourist contributes to the largest market share in inbound
tourism, is significant. Depending on economic power associated with outbound
tourism, the China government exercises outbound tourism as an institutional control
and agenda-setting power, by controlling which countries can receive Chinese tourists.
Nevertheless, the Chinese outbound tourism activities currently have less impact on its
attraction, which is the softest power on the right-most end of Rothman’s (2011) conti-
nuum. The cultural influences of Chinese outbound tourism are much smaller than its
economic impact and political impact. We would like to explore some of the reasons
behind this.
First of all, China’s economy has been restructured from socialism to a mixed socialist/
market-based society (Heberer, 2014). Accompanying this transformation are strong
intentions to allow the country to express itself in its own way with the advancement of
indigenous culture systems and ideology, deviating from Western values of democracy
and free-market capitalism (Ramo, 2004). It is difficult for Western countries to under-
stand China’s international image of socialist core values (Pei, 2006). China is unique
with regard to its outbound tourism market, not just in terms of its sheer growth potential
and volume but also due to its ‘socialist system with Chinese characteristics’ (Fan, 2010;
Zhang, 2010). The foreign stereotyping of communist ideology in some countries also
makes it difficult for Chinese outbound tourism to build soft power (Pei, 2006).
Secondly, in the Chinese soft power building, the government also plays an important
role. This dominance of the government comprises a traditional Chinese model. In China,
it is a widely accepted that governments will take the lead in nation building and develop-
ment and play a significant role in the market and people’s daily life. This model is
accepted in the East Asian context wherein Confucius culture has considerable
influence. However, this does not exist in the Western countries. The model of soft
power building driven by the government may not be accepted in the Western societies
where power building is mainly driven by free market forces which are independent of
government control. For instance, even though the Confucius Institutes, the most impor-
tant approach exerting cultural soft power, has expanded so quickly and successfully, skep-
ticism exists that the Confucius Institutes will be used by Chinese government to take
political control over Western universities and academia (Meng, 2012).
Thirdly, tourist-host interactions may have great potential. But currently, the group
tour dominant model limits interaction with the locals and even generates a negative
image. This is especially serious in Western Europe where Chinese outbound tourism
does not form such an important market segment yet. Compared to European tourists
of same cultural origin and similar tourism behavior, Chinese tourists are very different.
Chinese tourists, influenced by collectivist culture, have a preference for group tours, bois-
terous places and collective tourism activities (Fugmann & Aceves, 2013). Owing to group
12 H. XU ET AL.

tourists’ standard schedules arranged by tourism travel agencies, tourist contact with the
locals therefore tends to be limited, sometimes even discouraging direct contact. This lack
of direct communication with the locals reinforces the impression that Chinese tourists are
not interested in the host culture. Yet, the studies on Chinese outbound tourists reveal that
they want to learn about the culture and learn from the West (Arlt, 2011). This misunder-
standing may be due to lack of direct communication between hosts and guests. However,
there is no denying that with the development of more individual and repeat visits, this
behavior is now slowly changing.
Soft power building through Chinese outbound tourism may be more effective in the
Southeast Asian, Asia-Pacific, African and South American countries. There are several
reasons to support this contention. Compared to pervasive Chinese group tours in
Europe that restrict host-guest contact, the travel approach taken by most Chinese tourists
comprises traveling to Southeast Asian destination independently. In such places, they
comprise often repeat visitors, thereby bringing more opportunity to interact with other
foreign tourists and local people residing within the destination. In addition, Southeast
Asian nations (e.g. Thailand, Viet Nam, Laos, Burma, Cambodia) rely heavily on China
in the political and economic dimensions, which ranges from China’s huge investment
in public infrastructures, education, agriculture and environment governance to
Chinese outbound tourists’ massive expenditure (Ding, 2010). This has further enhanced
China’s soft power of culture and values in these countries (Wang, 1994). Furthermore, in
Thailand, Viet Nam, Laos, Burma and Cambodia, governments also play a role similar to
that of the Chinese government as the societies believe in government intervention. A
regulated market is often acceptable. For instance, it has been noted that Thais consider
the Chinese government intervention on regulating Chinese tourist behavior as very posi-
tive (Wirun, Wu, & Xu, 2017). Fourthly, in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) like most
African and South American countries, the free-spending Chinese holiday makers are
walking advertisements disproving the ‘Washington consensus’ as they offer evidence
that with the ‘Beijing consensus’ political and economic approach, a country can
become rich.

Conclusion
The volume of Chinese outbound tourism and resulting expenditure and overseas
tourism-related investment by Chinese enterprises have led to a substantial impact on
countries hosting outbound Chinese tourists. The Chinese government uses outbound
tourism as a diplomatic means to build soft power by implementing several strategies
that include offering approved destination status, tourism culture activities, tourism as
foreign aid and moving toward tourism cooperation. Further, it has been found that
Chinese outbound tourism has impact on soft power by way of social interaction,
which understanding has galvanized the Chinese government to take many actions to
regulate outbound tourists’ behavior and tourism business behavior. But currently this
study argues that the outcomes desired by China are dependent mainly on its economic
power or agenda-setting, or somewhere between hard and soft power, rather than upon
its attraction or success. Since globally the soft power is largely built through market
and the civil society, it will be some time before Chinese business and consumers as
well as cultural institutions can develop the cultural sensitivity needed to build the soft
 JOURNAL OF POLICY RESEARCH IN TOURISM, LEISURE AND EVENTS 13

power in this way. The study also found that there is concern over governmental interven-
tion in Chinese outbound tourism in soft power building and that it may lead to the coun-
terintuitive results (Meng, 2012).
The authors argue that the approach used to build soft power should vary according to
the destination country. In terms of the Asian Pacific Countries, more proactive govern-
ment policies can be formulated to facilitate soft power building. This is because in many
of these countries (e.g. Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Maldives, Australia) Chinese outbound
tourists often rank No.1. Hence, these destinations would like to make efforts to under-
stand these cultural differences and understand the Chinese ways of doing things. This
holds especially true for east and Southeast Asian countries, which are influenced by Con-
fucianism as this results in limited cultural conflicts and more opportunities for better
mutual understanding of culture, values and ideology (Starr, 2009). There are similarities
in ideas and beliefs about the government society relationships amongst these countries.
So government intervention in Chinese outbound tourism would be more accepted and
may even be regarded as a positive sign. In this case, the Chinese government may initiate
more tourism cooperation and contribute to the sustainable tourism development through
education programs for the ethical behavior by tourists and businesses. However, for the
Western counties, the effective way to build soft power is through individual contact and
business contact. Hence, the soft power building though the current form of Chinese out-
bound tourism, which is under government control and lacks individual contact is more
difficult to achieve, and it might be long way to go before such tourism can flourish and
soft power can be built.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID
Honggang Xu http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1354-6654

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